


Unearthly Flower

by CorinaLannister



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorinaLannister/pseuds/CorinaLannister
Summary: Hermione was officially done with Ron. He had to keep asking for her homework and almost copying it word for word. Honestly it is as if he could not think for himself. Or more likely that he did not care that the OWL examinations were coming up. The only thing that Hermione wished to do, no needed to do was to study. To prepare for every eventuality of the tests. This is what had resulted in her current predicament of reaching for an essence of dittany from professor Snape’s private stores. Breaking and entering, who would have thought Hermione Granger capable of this. For Hermione it turned out that breaking the rules was kind of fun. Though she never could have guessed that the choices she made that week would have led to her side winning the war and her getting closer to Severus.Disclaimer: Everything you recognise from the wonderful world of Harry Potter isn't mine. I'm just playing with the characters we all know and love.





	1. The breaking point of Hermione

The day had started normally but after dinner Hermione could be found sitting in the common room frantically trying to complete an ancient runes project which was due in nine days and exactly forty-five minutes. Yet to her that meant it had to be completed in two days and forty-five minutes. However, having already completed all the assignments that were due for the next day she felt like she had to work on it. There was however a 12 foot essay that was due for potions on Friday and an essay for Transfiguration due on Monday. She could only work on the ancient runes as it was the subject that cleared her mind and let her forget her troubles. Those troubles mainly being her so called friend Ron who was oblivious to the pain he was causing her. Ron was sat not doing very much at all aside from talking about quidditch and Harry seemed puzzled over the books he was reading. At least he was trying to study. Everyone else had seemingly already gone to bed due to it being late.

“Hermione, give me your defence against the dark arts essay and some parchment” Ron demanded of her and when she did not reply within a few seconds he explained “I needed to practice for quidditch…” before being cut off by Hermione who says “The OWLS are coming up, you need to learn to think for yourself”. Hermione had finally had enough of it, being asked to show her homework to him, that did not constitute a friendship. She was furious, so furious that she slammed her quill down when saying the word yourself accidentally stabbing herself in the hand with it. She did not feel the pain at first and only looked down when she noticed both Ron and Harry looking at her with shocked and horrified expressions and Harry pointing towards her books. 

“Ron, run and get Madame Pomfrey” Harry says concernedly whilst getting up and rushing round the table to the injured party “Are you okay?” she nods in the affirmative still slightly in shock. “Are you really okay? Is everything fine with Ron?”. Hermione then looks up at Harry from the quill sticking out of her hand “I just do not understand. This happens every time, it’s like he expects to copy from me, he doesn’t even ask any-“ her voice breaks as she says this and she shies away from the hug that is coming towards her from Harry. 

Hermione, jumps up out the way and starts backing up towards the common room portrait, then turns before hurrying out the door and following in Ron’s footsteps. She could here Harry exclaiming “Hermione! Please, your hand” but it was getting quieter and quieter as she was getting further away. She did however rip the quill from her hand which turned out to be a very wrong decision indeed. Hermione who now had to put pressure on her hand to try and stop the bleeding realised she had no destination in mind, her only thought being that she had to get away from everyone. Her wand was in her bag back in the common room. 

Hermione, quickly got her bearings and started towards the hospital wing, her hand needed fixing. Seemingly out of nowhere professor Snape appeared though she was probably too addled by now to see he truly came from “Miss Granger, what have you done this time?”. She tries to keep her hand hidden, but it was obvious that it was wounded due to the way she was holding it. “I’m sorry sir-” she starts but is quickly talked over “Miss Granger, show me your hand”. 

As she lifts her hand off the wound blood starts to run in rivulets down her hand. As soon as professor Snape sees it his countenance softens a little before his mask is back on “By the time we get to the hospital wing you will have lost some more blood, but I can fix it for you” he states whilst looking at her. Hermione quickly looks up at him and senses only good intentions before nodding and that was all he needed. His wand magically appeared in his hand from his sleeve and before she knew it there was no more pain. Then he flicked his wand once more and the blood she had lost was gone and in a vial he held in his other hand.

Before she knew it Hermione gushed “Wandless magic, I’ve read abo-“ she started to become excited even. This was the first time she had felt a spark of happiness for such a long time “Stop being such a know-it-all” he forces out almost out of habit before grabbing her hand and rotating it this way and that “It might scar” is his observation before he drops her hand. 

Hermione watches as he begins to stride away almost confused as to why he had helped her only to then hear his voice as he tosses over his shoulder “Do not tell anyone about this I have a reputation to uphold and 15 points from Gryffindor for clumsiness”. He once again seems to vanish into the darkness leaving her alone in the corridor. She glances down at her hand once more and thinks that it will indeed scar but she knew exactly which ingredient she needed for it and she knew where it was. She just needed to come up with a plan. Finally, there was a glimpse of hope as she had found something to do that the boys would not ask to copy or to look at. It was truly her own. Hermione almost skipped back to the common room in the darkness. As Hermione lay in bed she wondered why professor Snape was nice for once or as nice as he could be and then went on to think that he was extremely skilled with wandless magic and she was glad he was on their side. That was her last thought before she drifted off.


	2. Her plan fails?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione has constructed a plan to get her dittany but will she succeed or not.

The sounds of the other girls in her year slowly woke Hermione up. They were giggling and talking in hushed tones that she could barely make out until someone exclaimed “Shhh, she will here us” then another person chimed in “Let’s go and get breakfast”. She guessed the first was Parvati and the second was Lavender but stayed still to not show that she was awake. In her mind came the thought that they were in fact laughing about her, she was the joke for some reason or another. Had they found out what had happened to her? Did they know that she was broken?The sounds drifted away as if they were making their way out of the room. It was only then that she reached out to open the curtains on her bed but jolted to a stop when her left hand came into view. Only a second was needed for her to remember what happened the previous night. She had stabbed herself with a quill and professor Snape had helped her. 

Hermione slowly got out of bed, almost like she was on autopilot to get ready for her day. She usually got up before all the other girls but today was different, her evening had rattled her. However, she almost tripped on what appeared to be her bag just tossed on the floor with papers spilling out of it. At least it was not left in the common room but whomever had placed it there did not seem to care very much about her possessions. Hermione quickly relieved herself and when she was washing her hands she contemplated the new scar that she was going to get unless she could get her hands on some specific ingredients. It would match the others. She needed to plan but she was already nearly going to be late for the first class of the day. Potions. 

She went back to her bed to pick up her bag, scooping up the fallen contents into it before jostling it onto her shoulder. Lessons were the only thing Hermione enjoyed anymore, they were a chance for her to escape from her reality so off she went to her first lesson after skipping breakfast. People would only make fun of her or Harry would ask her what was wrong again or god forbid Ronald would be oblivious to everything, as always. She did not even want to see the girls from her dormitory as they clearly did not want to see or talk to her. 

Getting to potions was easy, what was waiting for her was not. Harry was stood in the corridor, he had turned up to a potions class early and when he heard steps he looked up before saying “Hermione, when I didn’t see you at breakfast I started to worry but I knew you would come to class at some point as you would never miss a class”. Hermione wanted to walk past him but could not, not when he seemed like he was trying to be a friend to her, “I wasn’t hungry Harry, besides I had to finish my essay for potions” this was a blatant lie, as there was not even one due, but Harry didn’t catch onto it. “Well you seem fine if you can write an essay then you’re definitely yourself but how is your hand? Madame Pomfrey never came back with Ron, so I assume she healed it”, he glanced at her hand before stating “Yes, she did”. It was at this point that Hermione asked, without bothering to correct him, “Did you collect up my belongings and put them in my bag for me?”. 

Harry suddenly looked around as if he was uneasy but before he could reply the whole of the Slytherin gang came along the corridor and Professor Snape appeared unlocking the door with a simple word “Alohomora". Hermione noticed that he did not even seem to use his wand this time, wandless magic, he could do both wandless and worless magic she though. The professor was still speaking "What are you waiting for you dunderheads, these potions are not going to brew themselves, if you are not in your seats in five minutes I will take fifty points from your house even if you are in Slytherin.” He then quickly walks off down the corridor. Ever the know-it-all Herimone was first inside the class room to choose the best seat in class, the one in the middle of the front row. One could never underestimate the importance of that seat as it showed the instructions clearly and there was no one in front of you to distract you, except for professor Snape. It was only then that she was thinking that this was not the best seat at all. Maybe he regretted what had happened the night before? She had to get up to choose a different place but alas almost all the other students were in the class already and it would be difficult to even get another table. She also did not want to lose more points for her house. 

With a sigh Hermione sat back down again before pulling what she needed from her bag. This was going to be a long lesson but Hermione could multitask. All she needed to do was try and get a vial of dittany from the stores without any of the students going in there or professor Snape noticing. Easy. Just get up to get her potions ingredients last and no one would notice her holding a little extra. Very easy. 

There was a bang and Hermione whipped her head to the side before remembering that she was at potions class and it was just professor Snape being himself. Yet, somehow, he seemed angrier. He stalked toward the front of the classroom and his gaze locked onto Hermione for a fraction longer than it should have. When he reached the front of the classroom he waved his wand and instructions appeared. Hermione quickly copied them down but dropped her quill when she clocked on to the fact that her plan was not going to work as these were OWL questions on properties of ingredients. Her plan had just gone from easy to very hard. This was not a practical lesson, there was no way she could get up and steal an ingredient.

The professor announced “As you all know the OWLS will be coming up soon and you need to prepare for them". His eyes were sweeping the room before he stopped looking towards the back of the class "Longbottom, you need not do anything as you will receive a T so you might as well give up now” At this there were some whispers from the Gryffindors and Sniggers from the Slytherins. Before Hermione knew what had happened she said “Neville only needs a professor who can comfort people and help him in his time of need”. Severus Snape cut a look at her that could scare even the ghosts of the castle “Detention miss Granger, tonight 8pm. Do not be late otherwise you will get another”. “Yes, Sir” was all she replied as she knew that that was exactly what he had done the night before, he had helped her in her time of need and she did not even think to say thank you and now she was planning to steal something from him. Hermione resolved to thank him that evening and rethink her plan to get the dittany. "50 points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a professor" was what she missed him say as she was deep in thought.

The questions were quite easy and Hermione managed to finish them in half the time the lesson took without even needing to use her books for three of the questions. She knew all the uses of dragon blood off by heart. As she had some spare time on her hands she looked at the next page of her book, page 394, it was all about blood. Human blood. It fascinated her that blood of a virgin had more magical properties than blood of someone who was not. Then she used the remaining time in the lesson looking at how halfblood, pureblood and muggleborn properties differed. They even interacted differently when used in potions which were of the darker nature. She read from the passage “The maidenhood blood of a muggleborn virgin is said to have restorative powers that can be used to heal even the darkest of-“. Professor Snape’s baritone voice rang out “Class dismissed, bring your parchments to my desk. If you have not finished, you will have to complete all the questions and write an essay on why you couldn’t do it in the allotted time for the start of the next lesson” there was a cacophony of groans from almost everyone but Hermione. She was staring at her parchment in horror as she had started to write notes that she was making from the textbook after her answers. There sounds in the room had started to die down yet one person was walking towards her “Miss Granger, your parchment if you please” Hermione looks up to see her professor with his hand out like he was expected her to have finished. As she does not move to give him the parchment he swipes it off the desk before saying “Do not forget about your detention”. Hermione starts to say that her answers have notes written on them but he cuts her off “Do not let me have to come and find you”. He then leaves the room with all due haste leaving Hermione to walk out of the room last at a much slower steady pace. Her plan had failed to get the dittany. She had earned herself a detention. He had yet to read her answers and her scrawled notes. She still hadn’t apologised. Her day could not get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I did not expect this at all. Thank you for such a great response, for the kudos, the comments, the bookmarks and the subscriptions. I actually had some tears of happiness. Thank you all so much! This means so much to me. I never even thought that one person would want to read this. I do not regret posting this at all. 
> 
> For those of you who are curious here is the title to the next chapter; Her plan succeeds? 
> 
> It will involve the detention. Keep your eyes peeled.


	3. Her plan Succeeds?

To say the day passed quickly was an understatement. Hermione spent most of the day trying to come up with a way to apologise to professor Snape and trying to work out how to get the ingredient she needed from his stores. She came up with the clever idea of asking Harry for the invisibility cloak but decided against it she had the sneaking suspicion that there was something amiss. Then she considered causing a commotion out in the corridor but that would only give her so much time and she was not sure Fred and George would help her. She always seemed to alienate herself from everyone for some reason or another. Mainly due to her studies and trying to correct everyone but recently she felt more alone than ever. Therefore, the plan should involve and rely on herself only, she would not be let down again and she would not succumb to any one else. The final plan which she came up with was to simply take it from the shelf when she had detention, surely she would be told to either clean the potions room or to do inventory on the potions ingredients. Either way there would be easy access to the ingredient that was needed. 

Hermione did not put up her hand in class that day, she was too deep in thought and missed the glances Harry and Ron had with one another. There was even an announcement that the best ancient runes project would win an unknown prize. As the Defence Against the Dark Arts class was coming to an end everyone was whispering and not taking it seriously because the book was useless and did not even contain any spells. Hermione noticed that everyone was getting up to leave but the reading that was assigned to them was not yet completed by her. There was no time to finish it though. Hermione had finished coming up with plans to get the ingredient she needed and she would commence with the chosen one in the evening when her detention commenced. 

“Hermione” she heard coming from behind her as she had just left the classroom. Turning around to see Harry looking at her “Can I have some help with the Potions work from…” he carried on talking but Hermione did not want to hear it and started running down the corridor. The bathroom happened to be where she ended up and she locked herself in a cubicle before opening her book bag to check on her work and her plans. The first thing she looked at was a piece of paper with most options scribbled out, she sighed before thinking back to what people had said about her and repeating it out loud “Book worm, teacher’s pet, bushy haired, ugly” she tried to push these thoughts aside but only ended up thinking about all the times when people had used her. The papers she was holding dropped to the floor as she tried to control her feelings. Most became soggy. 

The door opened with a slight thud which startled Hermione out of her reverie. “Did you see that girl was not at dinner again? She did not turn up to breakfast either. What is wrong with her?” was what Hermione heard from where she was sat. Another voice replied “That’s Gryffindors for you. Just because she is best friends with Potter does not mean she should get special treatment!”. This was when Hermione realised they were talking about her. The only fact she latched onto was that someone had noticed her absence and that made her smile. A real smile. 

Opening the door to her cubicle let the people who were talking know that there was someone in the bathroom and they both stopped talking, looked at each other and went to leave. One even muttered an apology before leaving herself. A Slytherin apologising to a Gryffindor, now that was unheard of so Hermione reacted quickly “NO! No, it’s alright. No harm done!”. The only person who had yet to leave only glanced backwards and stated “I really am sorry, anyone who stands up to professor Snape is alright in my books, most people in Slytherin won’t do that” before she then left. Hermione never even got her name. Then it dawned on her. Her detention with Snape. She was going to be late.  
Hermione left quickly and failed to pick up anything she had dropped on the floor, the one sheet that was still readable and not waterlogged read “simply ask him”, at the end of a long list, which was crossed out neatly with one strike. 

Having gotten to the professor's office in a quicker time than usual she was horrified to discover that she was still in fact there at two minutes past the hour. She quickly knocked lest it get even later. A sharp “Enter” came from the other side of the door so she did. The professor was sat at his desk and did not even look at her. She hovered about the door for a moment before he barked “Close the door and sit down” Hermione did as he bid and sat down in front of his desk. “You will sort every item in my potions store alphabetically, note down how many of each ingredient there is and update every label” he paused for a second before saying “Without magic, leave your wand here”. He then handed her some parchment which had a list of all the ingredients in the order of which they were acquired and how many should be left of each. This was going to take some time but it would give her the golden opportunity to take what she needed and she could say there was one less of the specific ingredient that she planned to take. This was great, better than any plan she could come up with. “What are you waiting for? The sooner you get started the sooner you can leave” the professor said whilst waving one arm in a shooing motion which caused the door to the office to open “Yes, sir”. Hermione was in awe once again at the command he had over his magic, it was something she wished to achieve one day. Something she aspired to. 

As she was walking toward the door and down towards the potions store cupboard she thought, he did not say anything about her being late nor about her potions work. She surmised that he had not read it yet so she may still have a chance to get that back too. The task at hand however was monumental. The first thing she did after arriving at the store was zero in on the essence of dittany and put one vial into her bra. The students at Hogwarts were very good at leaving stuff haphazardly laying around. So, she began at the bottom shelf at the very back of the stores, she had to start somewhere and it was out of the way there. To her horror she saw that ingredients which react violently with each other were too close to each other, there was a jar of eyes which made her shudder and there was a shelf which had nothing on it. Hermione set to work with the sorting of the ingredients but soon her stomach was rumbling and she became fatigued yet she carried on. Reaching towards the back of the lowest shelf in the corner of the room she came across something which only had the label H.J.G. and a date from this year, no this month even. Had she been more aware she might have realised what those letters meant. Having finished tidying up and removing all the vials from the shelving in the back corner she could then start to place all the ingredients in alphabetical order. 

As the hours wore on Hermione had managed to get to G in the alphabet but she was becoming slower and more sluggish. From an onlooker it looked as if she may have needed some rest, water and a good meal. The only thing that was on her mind was completing her task. Soon though, she found herself sitting down to take a short rest but that would be her downfall. 

From the corridor a thundering of footsteps could be heard before the door to the potions store was dramatically opened by one Severus Snape. “Miss Granger. Explain yourself!” he seethed whilst holding up not one but two sheets of paper. One was in pristine condition with red ink on it, the other was looking a little worse for ware and some of the ink had run and smudged. Most of the page was still eligible though. “100 points from Gryffindor!” He carried on “I helped you, then you insulted me, made a mockery of your paper and then you planned to steal from me. I should have you expelled! You even turned up late yet I did nothing because you had tear tracks on your face…”. His voice petered out as he strode into the store room to find Hermione looking like she had passed out on the floor. “Oh Merlin” was all professor Snape said before trying to rouse her. When he found he could not even with Rennervate. He did however cast some charms which told him that she had not been eating, drinking or sleeping well. That could be easily remedied. It was late and his chambers were closer than the hospital wing. He picked her up with a surprising gentleness before carrying her there. When walking he noticed that there was something in her pocket. It was digging into him. So when he put her down he checked what might discomfort her and found the object which had made him so angry in the first place. The dittany. Looking at the girl, no woman on his sofa he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said “You simply should have asked for it” before retreating to his room for the night.


	4. The Mediwitch

When Hermione came to she had a feeling that something was wrong. There were no signs that anyone was around her, usually the girls in the tower made some sort of noise. Hermione would usually complain about it, silently mind you, but now that it was not there it made her worried. Moving her hands slightly she felt that it was not her bed. In fact it did not feel like a bed at all. This caused her to stir immediately and sit upright to assess her surroundings. She should not have done that, she was too weak and became very dizzy and ending up leaning against the back of the sofa, for support, with her eyes closed. 

A few minutes later her pain subsided a little and she could open her eyes but before she could become certain of her surroundings or ascertain her whereabouts, she heard distant conversation. She was sure there were two or three people coming towards her and she hoped that Ron or even Harry where not going to appear. In the back of her mind, she wished for Professor Snape but rejected that thought in horror. Then her mind went back to the previous night, she remembered that she was in detention with Professor Snape. What had happened? Had she put the vial back or had she taken it? Looking around she saw a dark wood coffee table, a bookshelf, with an array of defence and potions books. Yet, it also contained a few muggle books. 

The voices were getting closer now and she knew without a doubt that one was Professor Snape. His voice was a sharp as ever and always had clarity to it. Even at a whisper his voice was deadly and could be heard. However, focusing on the other person she realised it was a woman so it could not be Harry or Ron. Her joy was short lived though as soon it became clear that they were talking about her. Although relatively more awake Hermione did not have the energy to stand or to make herself a little more presentable before they were at the threshold to the small albeit cosy room she was currently in. 

The Professor strolled in first liked he owned the room, “Miss Granger, you’re awake, I see you manged to refrain from touching any of my books whilst I was out.” He stated evenly. Then it all became clear, this was his room, one of his private rooms. She did not have the time to say anything before the matron came bustling in and all but pushed the owner of the rooms aside. “Hermione, how are you feeling? When was the last time you ate? Why didn’t you come to see me or send anyone to see me?” Madam Pomfrey rushed towards her patient and started fretting over her, looking this way and that whilst firing off different diagnostic spells. This was when Hermione realised something else, Ron was sent to fetch her but she never came. Hermione needed to know for sure what had happened “Did you see R…Ronald?” she stuttered in an inelegant fashion, she did not even want to say his name. The matron only replied “No, he has not been injured or at the Hospital Wing…but I am focused on you now. Tell me, why haven’t you come to me?”. Hermione, only looked at her and focused on a spot over her shoulder “I feel fine” she lied. The witch only shared a look with the Professor who had been standing with his arms folded before telling Hermione “The diagnostic spells say that you do not have enough fluids in you and the reason you are feeling weak is because your body does not have enough nutrients. Please try and rest up to get your strength back before going to anymore classes”, she then turned her head towards Severus and stated, “Do not be too hard on her yet”. The mediwitch took one last look at Hermione and spoke softly “Please do not hesitate to come to me or speak to your head of House if you ned someone to talk to, speak to Severus if you like, just speak to someone and make sure to start looking after yourself again”. With that she patted her shoulder and walked out the room. 

Hermione, being quite shocked at what had just happened and having uncovered that Ron had not even visited the Hospital Wing let alone told the Mediwitch about her injury broke her. The feeling of dread was settling into her when there was a clearing of the throat from across the room. Her head snapped up and she focused on Professor Snape. He was now leaning against he bookcase and was assessing her. He slowly unfurled his arms and he was holding a vial with a piece of paper wrapped around it. Even more slowly he stalked forward with his eyes never leaving her, looking every bit like a predator. The girl who was sat on the couch became a little frightened and her dread turned to fear when the vial and the papers were placed onto the table in front of her. All she heard was “I think you and I had better have a chat” in that distinct whisper of his. She shrunk back into the sofa and hoped it would swallow her. The items were in fact an almost empty vial of something, her test and a water damaged and slightly crinkled paper. She was in trouble, that much she knew. Taking in the three items now on the table and the stance of her Professor, she knew that she was not going to get away with this. She leaned forward and picked up the closest item to her which happened to be her test paper. It had a T on it, in giant red spiky lettering. She glanced at Professor Snape. He said nothing and gave nothing away. She went onto the next item, the other piece of paper. Dread starting started to come back again, it was her writing and it was not meant for anyone else to see, she could not meet his eyes. She only placed it back down. One final item left. The vial with an unknown substance. Her fingers clutched it and bought it towards herself. On first glances she did not know what it was. His silky voice came out of nowhere "Use your know-it-all mind to work out what it is" and almost caused her to drop the vial. She opened it. She knew what it was. It was the essence of dittany. The only conclusion she had was that she had used it. Her fear and dread now heightened and combined, her natural flight or fight reflexes kicked in and flight won out. She glanced toward the door, checked the professors demeanour, still that of a predator with his eyes zeroed in on her. She darted up and toward the door only to fall to the floor when she fainted due to overexertion in her exhausted state.


End file.
